Gordon named Mississippi State soccer coach

Mississippi State has named Aaron Gordon the Bulldogs' fourth head soccer coach in school history, director of athletics Scott Stricklin announced last Tuesday.

The hiring is pending the approval of the Board of Trustees, Institutions of Higher Learning

Gordon, hailed by many in the soccer community as one of the top coaches in the nation, comes to Starkville following six seasons on the staff at Texas Tech University, including the past year as associate head coach.

"It's exciting to come to Mississippi State and have a chance to be a part of this athletic department, to get a chance to build a program and compete in the SEC," Gordon said. "It's everything I've wanted as a coach, and this opportunity is very exciting."

While at TTU, Gordon oversaw all facets of the program, including recruiting, scouting, team training and video match analysis.

In his six seasons on head coach Tom Stone's staff, he helped develop Texas Tech into one of the upper-tier teams in the Big 12 Conference.

The 2012 season, his final at Texas Tech, was a record-setting one for the Red Raiders. The team won a school-record 16 games, advanced to the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament for the first time, and made its inaugural trip to the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the second round.

Texas Tech's 16-win campaign was the school's third-straight double-digit win season, another first for the program. Texas Tech's 16-win campaign was the school's third-straight double-digit win season, another first for the program.

During his time in Lubbock, Gordon helped the Red Raiders to more overall (60) and conference (23) wins than the previous nine years combined, and a spot in the Big 12 Tournament all six seasons.

He helped mentor seven players to Big 12 All-Freshman honors, including the Big 12 Freshman of the Year two of the past three seasons, and five to First Team All-Big 12 accolades. During his tenure, he also helped mentor a pair of players that were selected to United States youth national teams.

"We are excited to have a coach with great credentials like Aaron coming to lead our soccer program," Stricklin said. "Aaron is a hard-working, intelligent coach who is a great recruiter and teacher of the game. He is well-respected in the soccer coaching community, and seeing what he helped build at Texas Tech this season has us excited to see where he can lead our soccer program."

Gordon made the move to Tech after spending the previous three years with his hometown FC Dallas of Major League Soccer. With the organization, he served as the director of coaching for the second-largest youth club program in North Texas.

Gordon returned to his home state after serving as the top assistant for the Atlanta Beat of the WUSA. With the Beat, he organized the daily training schedule and served as head of scouting and video analysis among other duties.

Gordon joined the Beat after leading Dallas Inter Soccer Club to numerous state and regional championships. During his time at Dallas Inter, he also won back-to-back United States Amateur Championships as head coach of the Women's Texas Lightning team of the W-League.

After prepping at Lake Highlands High School, Gordon attended Hardin Simmons University before transferring to the University of South Carolina-Spartanburg. He returned to his home state in 1997 to receive his B.S. in Kinesiology from the University of North Texas.

After college, Gordon went on to play professionally in the USL, where he led the indoor league in goals in 1996.

Gordon, who has earned a USSF "A" License and a USSF Goalkeeper Diploma, currently heads the 93 Region 3 ODP team.

Gordon and his wife Ashley, a six-year assistant coach at Texas Tech, have two daughters, Addison, 12, and Avery, 8.